Melting furnaces in die cast are used to melt aluminum to produce engine block and head castings. The furnaces have a front door and back access doors to clean the refractory and remove impurities from the aluminum. The front door typically has an automatic lift hoist to open and close the door, but the rear access doors are generally opened, closed, clamped and unclamped manually. The normal push/pull force, as designed by the furnace manufacturer, is about 60 pounds per door based on performed measurements. There is also pushing and pull forces attributed to the manual locking clamps. However, the typical operator cannot assert enough force to hold the door tightly closed resulting in heat loss and damage of the rear plate. Further, for safety concerns, there is a need to prevent the operator from physically contacting the door to open it and to prevent the operator from being in the general area of the furnace while the rear access doors are opening.